BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1160|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1160
Author: Beall (D)
Amended: 5/27/14
Vote: 21
SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE : 4-0, 4/22/14
AYES: Liu, Berryhill, DeSaulnier, Hancock
NO VOTE RECORDED: Wyland
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 5/23/14
AYES: De Le�n, Walters, Gaines, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
SUBJECT : Employment
SOURCE : Alliance Supporting People with Intellectual and
Developmental Disabilities
California Disability Services Association
DIGEST : This bill requires, for group services, a job
coach-to-consumer ratio of not less than 1:2 nor more than 1:8
where services to a minimum of two consumers are funded by a
regional center or the Department of Rehabilitation (DOR). This
bill recasts the definition of "individualized services" to
provide, in part, job coaching and other supported employment
services, as specified. This bill also makes legislative
findings and declarations regarding the employment of persons
with developmental disabilities.
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ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Establishes the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) to
administer the Act, which entitles individuals with
developmental disabilities to community services and
supports.
2. Establishes private non-profit regional centers to provide
fixed points of contact in the community for persons with
developmental disabilities and their families, so that these
persons may have access to the services and supports best
suited to them throughout their lifetime.
3. Establishes the Employment First Policy and states that it is
the policy of the state that opportunities for integrated,
competitive employment shall be given the highest priority
for working age individuals with developmental disabilities,
regardless of the severity of their disabilities.
4. Defines "habilitation services" as community-based services
purchased or provided for adults with developmental
disabilities, including services provided under the Work
Activity Program and the Supported Employment Program, to
prepare and maintain them at their highest level of
vocational functioning, or to prepare them for referral to
vocational rehabilitation services.
5. Defines "group services" to mean job coaching in a group
supported employment placement at a job coach-to-consumer
ratio of not less than 1:3 nor more than 1:8 where services
are funded by the regional center or the DOR. For consumers
receiving group services, ongoing support services shall be
limited to job coaching and shall be provided at the
worksite.
6. Defines "individualized services" to mean job coaching and
other supported employment services for regional
center-funded consumers in a supported employment placement
at a job coach-to-consumer ratio of 1:1, and that decrease
over time until stabilization is achieved. Individualized
services may be provided on or off the jobsite.
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7. Establishes a small business bid preference for nonprofit
veterans service agencies in awarding state contracts under
all of the following conditions, as specified.
This bill:
1. States various Legislative findings and declarations about
the importance of employment of individuals with
developmental disabilities in California and the state's high
unemployment rate for these individuals.
2. Modifies the minimum job coach-to-consumer ratio to 1:2, from
1:3. Similarly, reduces the minimum number of consumers
required to participate in group supported employment from
three to two.
3. Modifies the definition of "individualized services" to mean
job coaching and other services for regional center-funded
consumers in a supported employment placement, as specified,
with services that decrease over time, consistent with the
consumer's individualized program plan and abilities, with
the goal of achieving stabilization, when possible.
Related legislation
AB 1626 (Maienschein, 2014), would increase the hourly rate paid
to providers of individualized and group-supported employment
services to $34.24, and increase the fees paid to interim
program providers to $400 and $800, respectively.
AB 954 (Maienschein, 2013), would have increased the hourly
provider rate for individualized and group supported employment
services to $34.24, and increased the fees paid to interim
program providers to $400 and $800. The bill died in the
Assembly Appropriations committee.
AB 1041 (Chesbro, Chapter 677, Statutes of 2013), created the
Employment First Policy and requires regional centers to provide
consumers age 16 and older with information about employment,
options for integrated competitive employment, post-secondary
education options, and other information.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
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Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Unknown impact on the utilization of group supported
employment services (General Fund and federal funds). By
reducing the minimum number of consumers participating in a
group employment services, this bill may increase demand for
those services by making it easier to set up two-consumer
groups. Additionally, by allowing individualized services
potentially continue over a longer period of time (in some
cases indefinitely) the bill could increase demand for those
services. The extent of those impacts are unknown.
On the other hand, consumers who cannot be served by group
services are already eligible for individualized services, so
there may not actually be much unmet demand for these
services. In addition, providing supported employment
services is less expensive than other services that consumers
would be eligible for in the absence of competitive
employment. For example, the average annual cost to provide
supported employment services is about $4,000 whereas the
average annual cost to provide a place in a work activity
program is about $5,300 and the average annual cost for day
programs is about $11,700. To the extent that additional
supported employment services allow consumers to remain in
competitive employment and not access more expensive services,
those savings will likely offset some or all of the costs to
provide additional services under this bill.
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/27/14)
Alliance Supporting People with Intellectual and
Developmental Disabilities (co-source)
California Disability Services Association (co-source)
Association of Regional Center Agencies
Toolworks
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author's office states that for
people with the most significant disabilities, access to ongoing
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job coaching to maintain employment is critical. Coaching
enables people with cognitive disabilities to learn and retain
job skills in ways that may be unique to the individual. The
author's office notes that individual placement, which pairs a
single worker with a job coach, requires the job coaching
services to fade quickly.
The Alliance Supporting People with Intellectual and
Developmental Disabilities, a co-sponsor, writes that this bill
will greatly improve employment opportunities and outcomes for
people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Co-sponsor, California Disability Services Association (CDSA)
states that this bill adds much needed improvements in the
options available in California's
employment policies directed toward offering work opportunities.
CDSA states it is their belief that adding these new elements
to the options for increasing work opportunities is clearly a
step in the right direction.
JL:d 5/27/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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